Shenzhen University

Shenzhen University (SZU, Traditional Chinese: 深圳大學, Simplified Chinese: 深圳大学, Pinyin: Shēnzhèn Dàxué) is a municipal public research university in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The university is funded by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government.

SZU comprises two campuses, Houhai campus and Xili campus, occupying 2.72 square kilometers in total. The Houhai campus is located on the coastline of Houhai Bay with 1.34 square kilometers. The new Xili campus now under construction is located in the city's University Town and takes up 1.38 square kilometers.

Shenzhen University was established in 1983 as a full-time comprehensive university, in line with the aim of China's Ministry of Education to further develop the critical infrastructure in the Special Economic Zone of Shenzhen with strong support from Chinese leading universities including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China. Deng Xiaoping gave his personal approval to the university. Professor Zhang Wei, who was the former vice-president of Tsinghua University, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was appointed as the first president.

In 1995, Shenzhen University passed the teaching evaluation for the undergraduate program accredited by the Ministry of Education and was among the first group of universities in China to have its undergraduate programs certified. In 1996, Shenzhen University was accredited by the Academic Degree Evaluation Committee of the State Council for Master's programs. In 1997, Shenzhen University reorganized into the faculty and college structure, adopted a work-study program and committed to an integrated approach to teaching.

Since 2017, the university has concentrated on research-oriented teaching and has invested in research laboratories. In 2017, the research budget totaled 9.705 million RMB. In 2024, Nobel Prize laureate Barry Marshall was appointed as a chair professor at SZU. Many businesses and academics have made donations to support the development of Shenzhen University, and some entrepreneurs have set up funds and scholarships in various disciplines.^{[example needed]} Shenzhen University has 26 PhD programs as of 2025.

SZU now has 27 schools (colleges), providing 96 undergraduate majors, 38 first-grade master's degree conferring disciplines; 18 professional master's degree conferring disciplines and 10 first-grade doctoral degrees.

The faculty consists of 3,455 staff. There are 2,267 teachers, 561 technicians, 627 administrative staff, 782 postdoctoral researchers, 220 full-time researchers, 119 visiting professors and 228 foreign teachers. It has 1 Nobel Prize laureate, 7 academicians in the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and 10 academicians in both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

In 2025, Shenzhen University ranked 56th globally and 30th in Chinese mainland in the Nature Index. From 2020–2024, it received RMB 9.271 billion in S&T funding; undertook 124 National Key R&D projects and 5 National Major S&T projects; secured 1,763 NSFC grants; won 3 national and 89 provincial/ministerial S&T awards; published 32,398 SCI-indexed papers; and obtained 5,679 patents (4,410 invention). In the social sciences, it received RMB 320 million; undertook 178 NSSF projects and 100 MOE HSS projects; published 3,736 SSCI/A&HCI papers; and won 17 national awards. The university publishes the Journal of Shenzhen University (Science and Engineering) and the Journal of Shenzhen University (Humanities and Social Sciences).